girls trip to amsterdam | packing up my life to move to europe for the summer! ✈

Auto-captioned from the film, lightly cleaned. Elena's words, not edited prose.

thank you let's talk about it so if you've been watching my videos you know I've lived in New York for a hot minute I've been here for five years and it's been quite the journey I'm grateful for the experiences I had and you know what I feel like oh it's time to try do and I kind of did this last summer but for more of like a video project resist here going on a journey of self-discovery so I packed up to exactly 50 pounds for many different situations and I'm gonna be traveling for the next two months oh wow working remote I'm subletting my room I feel like what I'm trying to figure out in this next season is where do I want to be where can I see myself calling home what does life look like this next chapter these next few years I'm feeling quite untethered at the moment it's really easy for me to sublet my room here I'm gonna be traveling all around this summer I'm gonna be staying with some friends subling some spots I'm gonna be going to Amsterdam Portugal France I'm hiking through the dolomites the mountain range hopefully the Middle East we'll see but I just want to go and experience different ways of living and hopefully find you know beautiful stories to tell and kind of figure out what life might look like outside like the newer Castle which I feel like is something I've been trying to figure out for the past few years as a fifth year New Yorker I guess not a true New Yorker 10 years I do be feeling like a super senior though I love it here but I'm excited to kind of see what else is out there um and let me tell you about this packing Journey this took me in atrocious amount of time I don't even know how many hours of searching selling my clothes buying some new clothes with the money I made to find a wardrobe that fits like a million different potential scenarios it took me so long is what I'm gonna ask and I'm actually headed to Portugal and Amsterdam first I'm actually flying out literally like as a Bible watch I'm flying out in like an hour so I'm gonna go put on my airport clothes and yeah let's let's let the road I'm ready welcome to my suitcase okay we got monos with these two sides here my key to packing is packing cubes it's so helpful putting all your items in one place so you have an idea of like okay these are all my tops easily accessible bottoms shorts and skirts these are my like tank tops and pajamas everything else I always try to roll as neatly as possible dresses workout clothes cover-ups undergarments and having it sectioned off this is such a game changer when you're traveling for long periods of time and then on this side we have two purses my shoes for the trip with my loafers and our running sneakers little beachy slides little heels for a night out as well as a pair of walking sandals got my beauty products my makeup all my bathing suits and their medicine in here very sectioned off which is just so helpful and I'm gonna reveal to you guys how type A I can truly be I know this is absurd but it's so helpful when you're traveling for a really long time with one suitcase plus I was slowly packing and buying items or whatever the case was every time I would try something on I would just take a quick photo of it in the mirror and now I have like my whole wardrobe set aside in photos so I wrote down outfits that I might potentially wear there so I can just quickly get ready and go and I included little inspo photos when I'm in the south of France when I'm in Paris and I'm in the dolomites be thinking I'm completely crazy and you know what maybe I am it's a lot of time on the front end it is so helpful while traveling again if you're going to different locations if you have a big suitcase it's a good way to get good use out of every item you're bringing because you it's sometimes easy to like resort to the same outfit over and over which is fine we love that as well minimalism is great but if you want some more like interesting outfits and different ideas I highly recommend okay now I really need to go to the airport let's go oh no no no good morning from Amsterdam can't believe I was saying that so excited to be here it was a bit of a journey to get here but I've since settled into this lovely sublet that I'm staying at the next like eight or nine days a Gallop Instagram reached out said that she was gonna be out of town and asked if I want to sub at her apartment I said hell yes so I'm here with Ashley and Gabby but today is a sunny beautiful day so we are excited to go rent our bikes for the week and go to vondel park do some thrifting the whole deal so happy to be here but taking a quick sponsorship break to thank today's sponsor betterhelp if you're unfamiliar betterhelp is the world's largest therapy service and it's 100 online with better help you can essentially tap into a network of over 30 000 licensed and experienced professionals who can help you with a whole wide range of issues so my first ever experience with therapy was through Better Health and it's been super transformational for my life getting to have somebody to talk to is so important and to get started you basically just go online and you answer a few questions about your needs and preferences so Better Health can match you with the best therapist for you and you could communicate with your therapist in a variety of ways whatever is the most comfortable for you whether it's video call regular call texting you name it and you can very easily switch your therapist at any time if it's not feeling like it's a good fit for you so with better help you get that same professionalism and quality to expect from in-office therapy but it's much more flexible and it's often a much more affordable price in person there so you get 10 off your first month at betterhelp and that's help.com limited saber and of course linked everything down below so you can check it out for yourself so think about maybe giving better help a try and thanks again to them for sponsoring this video let's get back to Amsterdam so Gabby and I started off our intro to Amsterdam with exploring on foot which is always one of my favorite ways to get acquainted with somewhere new the streets are so Charming here we got so lucky with Incredible weather had to check out some thrift stores and then of course rent bikes the Dutch way and loop the iconic Bondo Park smelling the grass smelling the Roses I don't want your love I tried um Gorge hello hi everyone I made it with my gal Gabby gal off we're in Amsterdam truly such a magical City it doesn't feel real straight out of like a storybook but we keep saying the city looks like it's out of a fairy tale like seriously everyone's so relaxed full and Tall gorgeous general population the most don't mind it here it's cool to see the way of life here in just a couple days obviously we're only getting a glimpse I think like the biking culture is very like kind of quaint slower Pace but still a city it's a really interesting Vibe and setting to see we're very excited for a little summer yes of Adventures uh we're gonna be traveling in the next three to four weeks together going to some spots on our own meeting back up I'm very excited to see what's ahead I'm also like so happy to be here because it feels like such a different experience to what we've previously had during like European travels and it's also a place that I could like kind of imagine myself living so it's fun to sort of like fantasize about a life here even just for like a few months or something if you're a bit of a foodie there's those lovely friends here which has been a really fun great Cafe culture and good house musics and whatever and so it's perfect also we got um bikes this morning yeah we have been riding around which is such a useful experience it's so much fun I think we circled Boggle Park just like you feel good do you feel more relaxed hahaha all right it is a lovely 5 p.m you wouldn't be able to tell we had a very productive work day truly like eight hours of work yes and like good work which was very satisfying and now we are headed to Ben the Ben Cohen Ben Cohen Street Food dance we have eaten like Queens 10 out of 10 meals that was so good if you come downstairs come to Ben Cohen as well as we love Shanina so good honey yesterday delicious and then caffeine Biden hosters I'm Butchery and there really are just as many bikers as you could possibly imagine and we are now on our way to get our bike and do a little bike exploration stretch these legs check out Amsterdam spinner biking is the life for us foreign five talk about being tall but I only do it because it's such a defining experience in my life I'll walk into a bar I am a full head taller than everybody else like I look in the reflection it's like everyone's head and then you're like oh there's the Giant into this bar I've never felt so like normal in my life and there's like a lot of beauty to that each of our entire lives always been told being girls is like try to be as small as possible be as potato as possible and like being small will make you more feminine to always have felt a bit abnormal to suddenly walk into a space and be like wow I'm enormous that was way more fun more than expected very lovely follower Michelle works for the museum here and so again she's like Jimmy come to the premiere it's at 12 30 like literally literally it's really hello for another beautiful day at Amsterdam we've actually had a good mix of warm days and sunny days and seeing what it's like with that weather in mind as well as some cold days I've been quite stubborn and I didn't pack a proper jacket because I'm about to be going to a lot of warm locations so I've been freezing my ass off a little bit this has been such a dreamy first stop it's been like I said more of like a work remote week than like a vacation week so we've honestly been working a lot of the time we've been here but I feel like we're getting a little insight into what life could be like here and I feel like hearing hamster on the very healthy balance between work and prioritizing their social life friendships just enjoying life I guess it's European theme which is really beautiful to see let me tell you being somewhere where you feel like you kind of fit in for the first time ever height wise was way more powerful than I expected I'm here walking around I'm like oh my God I feel so normal and it's really nice also I feel like the Dutch people I've met have been really kind as well I definitely feel like this is somewhere I'd love to work remote for a couple months it's a very dreamy quaint City I feel like it has lots of cool options going on like food scene going out seeing art scene but small enough that it feels quite manageable there's only like 800 000 people who live here which is very small New York is 8 million Manhattan alone I think is like 3 million so tiny but it still feels like there's lots of options and things to explore and see and there's always different things going on so very excited about this time quite the fair I'm also about to head out and go on a little party cruise we have a few friends here that are from Amsterdam that we met traveling like two years ago in South France anyways they live here invite us to go on this like Dutch Party Cruise for several hours so I'm excited it's fun to hang out with some locals do what they like to get up to get a little taste of the land um and dance to some house music so